By: The Rev. Craig Stephans
As a seminarian, I learned immediately from Dr. Erika Moore, my Old Testament professor, that “context is king.” And, as with my own preaching and teaching, I’m sure that lesson reverberates in your ministry of the word. Each passage of Scripture we interpret has a literary, historical, and theological context in which it has been weaved by its author. The context shines a light on the meaning and message of any text.
Each young woman who considers abortion has a relational, familial, spiritual, and cultural context in which she lives that informs this seminal decision to keep or abort her child. Similarly, each person and family facing end-of-life care decisions has a context for their hopes and fears. Folks don’t come to these crisis-decisions in a vacuum, and I think God has placed pastors in positions to inform the larger context of people’s lives with a value on the sanctity of life.
A foundational building block of that context of life is inviting God’s presence and guidance in all stages of life and all of our relationships. The hand of God in the marriage of Isaac and Rebekah illustrates his thoughtfulness and passion for family and bringing a man and woman together for love, comfort, and life. We know in the Biblical stories that things are rarely sunshine and lollipops, but here is a moment of God revealing himself in initiating the marriage bond. It gives Isaac comfort after saying “Goodbye” to his mother Sarah. The event of their union in marriage exists in the larger context of God’s story of redemption.
This recognition of God’s hand in life is such a contrast to the circumstances that bring mothers to have abortions. Abortion rejects the reality of the role God plays in life. The same ignorance of God’s presence and eternal purpose leaves people in despair without comfort in the face of suffering and/or death.
I believe that the peace and rest that Jesus gives comes not only from his presence in us but also from the relationships he develops between us and others in the family of God, especially our own families. It is among the context of our Christian brothers and sisters that we are guided by his gentle, easy yoke into comfort, rest, wisdom, strength, and hopefulness. We promote the sanctity of life, as we promote relationships among believers. We create the context for life-affirming decisions, as we encourage our congregations to invite the Lord into every relationship and activity of our lives. This dynamic fuels a Christian imperative to continually invite the lonely and lost into this context of a loving Christian family that affirms life.
Finally, the conclusion of this Sunday’s text from Paul’s letter to the Romans offers profound hope and promise for women and men who have chosen abortion and those suffering end-of-life challenges. He writes, “Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:25a) No matter whether we have been doers of evil and/or victims of evil…Jesus Christ saves us, redeems us, and gives us new life in him with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Amen!